Review: Heavy Bottom 4th Valve Cap

I was first introduced to the concept of Heavy Bottom Valve Caps when I first purchased my Sterling Virtuoso Euphonium which came with a full set of Heavy Bottom Valve Caps which were designed for each valve. I was so impressed by the sound that my Sterling Virtuoso made with the addition of these Heavy Valve Caps that I kept them on my instrument until I made the change to Besson.

Heavy Bottom Valve Caps are not a new concept and are quite commonly used on Trumpets, Cornets and Flugels and various experiments have been carried out on Euphonium's although there has been no real wide scale adoption by Euphonium players of a Heavy Bottom Valve Cap located on the 4th valve.

Heavy Valve Caps are designed to add mass to certain areas of the instrument which help to accentuate harmonic partials which therefore has a positive affect in terms of centering the sound and aiding projection.

I was recently sent a new Heavy Bottom Valve Cap for my 4th Valve by Heavy Bottom Caps which was designed and made for my Besson Prestige 2052-2 Euphonium.

I was impressed by the unique design of the new Heavy Bottom 4th Valve Cap which has a silver and gold plated finish. I was surprised at how perfect the Heavy Bottom Valve Cap fitted to my 4th Valve and how it did not look out of place on my Besson Prestige 2052-2 Euphonium. Although it is an aesthetically pleasing design, the addition of a Heavy Bottom 4th Valve Cap to a Euphonium is not just there for the way it looks and is there for a purpose. I was eager to carry out some tests comparing both my normal 4th Valve Bottom Cap and my new Heavy Bottom 4th Valve Cap.

It should be noted that my Besson Prestige 2052-2 Euphonium, is fitted with a Heavy Valve Top Cap located on my 3rd Valve and that this test was carried out with my Euphonium in this configuration.

My tests focussed around the tonal aspects of my playing, I started off this test by playing long tones, I found that by adding the Heavy Bottom 4th Valve Cap to my Besson Prestige 2052-2 Euphonium, that there was a slight weight mass added to quite an open space within the instrument which enabled a slight change in tonal quality. I decided to experiment further and using a Salvation Army Hymn Tune 'The Reason' as a base test, I began to explore a little more of what the Heavy Bottom 4th Valve Cap had to offer.

I felt that the tonal security was more secure which was more noticable in the lower range especially in the production of notes requiring the operation of the 4th valve. In addition to this, I felt that the addition of the Heavy Bottom 4th Valve Cap slightly darkened my sound as well as added a general comfort in what is quite an open space when compared to other parts of the instrument.

I feel that due to the incredible design and engineering of The Besson Prestige 2052-2 Euphonium, the Heavy Bottom 4th Valve Cap compliments the instrument and is an addition which adds to an already superb Euphonium.

In the future I look forward to seeing modified Heavy Valve Caps which can be added to the inner valve block on either the first, second or third valve.

Overall, this is a wonderfully thought our design, that is aesthetically pleasing and enables an extra added security in tonal production and projection.

For more information don't forget to check out the following link - https://heavybottomcaps.co.uk/